The Journal: Raging Tide: (The Journal Book 4) (18 page)

The sun was starting to set. It would still
be an hour or two before dark, but we made camp anyway.

I opened the cooler to find bags of ice, ham
and cheese sandwiches, and a container of carrot and orange jello,
one of my favorite salads. There would be no need to cook tonight.
Jim was building a fire when I handed him a tin cup filled with ice
and vodka. He looked up at me and thanked me. I set the bottle down
beside him, returning a moment later with my bottle.

“It must have been difficult to identify
her,” I said softly.

“Patsy had already ID’d her. I didn’t let on
that I knew who she was.” He looked over at me sitting on an
adjacent log. “I’m glad
you
didn’t have to see that. She was
a gory mess. Not a good way to remember someone.”

“Thank you for keeping me from that. I
really didn’t know her very well though. During my captivity, our
time together in the food tent was limited, and we were
discouraged
from talking to each other.” I took a long sip
from my cup and let it burn all the way down. “It’s just so
sad.”

We sat by the fire drinking, watching the
woods grow dark. Clouds had moved in again and obscured the stars
and that was okay. It fit the mood.

JOURNAL ENTRY: May 1

The clouds from
last night hung around all morning while we both nursed a hangover.
Early afternoon they opened up, dousing the campfire and saturating
everything else. We spent the day talking, playing cribbage, and
trying to stay dry in the tent. Dinner was cold Spam sandwiches and
two bottles of wine.

~~~

“Allex, wake up!” Jim barked in my ear from
a distance. I could feel I was being shaken and all I could see was
Tat pushing me around the small cabin. I stumbled on my bruised and
swollen feet and I pushed him back. “Allex, wake up!”

I jerked awake sitting up, disoriented.

“You were thrashing about and moaning in
pain. Are you hurt or were you having a nightmare?” Jim asked,
concern filled his voice in the dark.

I was still breathing hard. “Yes, a
nightmare. Tat was beating me again and stepping on my feet. It
hurts so much, Jim.” I shuddered.

“He’s gone, Allex. He will never hurt you
again,” Jim said, soothing my jangled nerves. “The nightmares may
continue for a while though.” He pulled me close and we fell back
asleep.

May 2

Sometime around midnight the rain stopped
and a warm southern breeze picked up. By daybreak the tent was dry
enough to pack. We headed north on this back road until we came to
M-28 and once again turned west and toward the rift.

“We’ve made such good time Jim, even with
the rain day, what do you say we stop in to see Annie and the
kids?”

“That’s a good idea. I know they mean a lot
to you. I got kind of fond of them myself,” he said. East of
Munising he turned off onto 94 that would lead us to the new road
along the rift and away from the first access bridge. The gravel
and dirt road that paralleled the rift was muddy and slippery and
slowed us down.

“Do you notice anything different about the
new river? It doesn’t look as high as it did two weeks ago,” I
observed. I had the chance to watch it more intensely than Jim,
since he was concentrating on driving and avoiding water filled
potholes.

There was a high spot in the road and grass
was growing on the shoulder where Jim brought the Hummer to a stop.
We both got out to look closer at the river. Jim hooked his fingers
into the back of my belt, and I laughed.

“You’re right, it does look lower. With all
the rain we had yesterday, one would think the river would be
higher. I wonder if they’ve managed to finally slow the flow
some.”

“It will be worth checking out after we
cross back over,” I said. He let go of my belt when we backed away
from the river’s edge.

The first pass we missed the narrow dirt
road where Annie and Glenn lived and we had to backtrack. Pulling
into the familiar driveway was a shock. The house was a smoldering
pile of rubble with only the brick chimney standing. The lovely
porch had half a charred railing and the front shrubs were scorched
black.

As soon as Jim stopped, I jumped out of the
Hummer. “Annie! Glenn!” I turned in a circle. “Jared! Jodie!” I
started shaking.

“Annie! Glenn!” Jim bellowed. If they were
anywhere around they would hear him. The only sound came from the
chickens clucking inside the coop. By some miracle that building
was spared and the chickens wanted out.

As we neared the coop, the door opened and a
little redhead peeked out. “Allex?” said a tiny voice.

“Jared!” I almost wept with relief. Jodie
rushed past him and threw herself at my legs. I bent down and
picked her up. Her tiny arms circled my neck in a death grip. Jared
looked up at Jim, his lip quivering, and raised his arms. Jim
quickly picked up the little boy who started sobbing.

We set them down on the back bumper of the
Hummer, facing away from the ruins, and got them some cool water to
drink.

“Jared, can you tell us what happened?” I
asked gently. It occurred to me that I had never heard Jodie utter
a single word.

“Yesterday we were playing upstairs because
it was raining. Annie called us down and told us to go hide in the
chicken’s house. She was really scared and worried. I thought maybe
the bad men came back. After we were in the coop, Annie came
carrying the burpy and told me to keep it safe. She was showing me
how to use it to make clean water since you left last time.”

“Oh, the Berkey,” I said aloud, not meaning
to interrupt him. That she was teaching him young meant she learned
that lesson well.

“Yeah. Annie said there was a fire in the
wood stove and Glenn was putting it out and she had to go help him.
She said we were to stay here until she came for us,” his little
lip quivered again. “She never came back.”

I looked up at Jim, pleading with my eyes.
He nodded and stood. While I stayed with the twins, he went to look
through the still hot rubble. By the time he came back, the twins
had wolfed down a half sandwich each and another cup of water.

“I have to talk with the colonel for a
minute. You two stay right here, okay?” I stepped away from the
Hummer and met Jim halfway to the house.

He put his arms around me and said, “You
don’t want to go any further. It’s still hot, but it looks like
Glenn died right at the woodstove. Annie was near the back door,
and may have been trying to get out.” I leaned my forehead against
his chest.

“What are we going to do, Jim? We can’t
leave the twins here, they’re just babies!”

“Why don’t we all go to the Goshens’? It
will get the kids away from here and maybe Lee and Kora can help us
decide what to do.”

*

“We’re going to visit some friends, okay?” I
told the twins, trying to smile even though it was hard.

“We have to take the burpy. Annie said I had
to keep it safe,” Jared protested. Jim retrieved the water
filtration unit from the coop and left the chickens penned up.

Jared sat on the empty radio console and
Jodie stayed on my lap. The trip took less a half hour and she had
fallen asleep almost immediately.

When Jim drove the Hummer up the drive and
close to the log house, Lee and Kora came out immediately, happy to
see us return. That changed to concern when they saw the
children.

“Who are these little angels?” Kora asked,
getting down on one knee while I set a now awake Jodi down.

The little girl eyed Kora, then reached out
and stroked her loose blonde hair. “You look like my mommy. Annie
said she’s in heaven now. I think Annie’s in heaven now too.”

Kora flashed her eyes up at me

“We need to talk,” I said to the
Goshens.

*

Inside the big house, Kora led the children
to the living room and gave them a puzzle to play with, while the
adults went to the kitchen out of earshot. As quickly as we could,
we explained what we had come upon. A tear ran down Kora’s pale
cheek.

“They have no one now and I don’t know what
to do with them,” I said. “We’re not going straight back to Moose
Creek so we can’t take them with us.”

Lee was the first one to speak. “They can
stay here. We’ve always wanted children, right, Kora?”

She smiled then, and said, “Looks like we
have a pair of them now.” I could see the relief on Jim’s face and
I closed my eyes and sighed in gratitude.

“They have nothing, Kora, only what they’re
wearing,” I said.

“I’ll make them some clothes!”

“Jared insisted on bringing the Berkey,” Jim
said. “Even if you don’t need it, he won’t part with it. It’s the
one thing he has of his big sister.”

“Jim, what are we going to do about… Annie
and Glenn?” I asked.

“Lee, you have a couple of shovels and maybe
a cage for the chickens?” Jim asked. “No sense in letting the birds
starve to death.” Lee nodded and they left the kitchen. Soon we saw
them pull out in Lee’s pickup truck. When they returned two hours
later, Annie’s chickens were turned loose in the yard, much to the
pleasure and excitement of the twins. It was a familiar thing for
the twins to hold on to.

*

“You will stay the night, won’t you?” Lee
asked.

“Thank you, I think we should. We can’t just
drop a couple of kids on you and leave,” I said, smiling at the
absurdity of my statement.

“Good,” Kora said. She turned to the twins.
“Come on you two let’s go see your new bedrooms!” Jodi grabbed
Kora’s hand; she had made the transition very quickly, perhaps
because Kora had blonde hair like her mother. Jared took my hand
and the four of us climbed the wide wooden steps to the upper level
of the big log house.

*

We had dinner early so the twins could get a
bath and go to bed.

“They sure fell asleep quickly,” Kora
noted.

“It’s been a very traumatic couple of days
for them,” I said sadly. “They do seem to be resilient, though,
which is in your favor – and theirs.” I paused, thinking. “They are
really sweet kids and very well behaved. I want to thank you for
taking them in.”

“It’s us that should be thanking you!” Lee
said. “We’ve said before that we always wanted children, now this
house can be a real home for all of us.”

The four of us took our drinks out to the
large, wide porch to enjoy the evening breeze. The peepers set up a
chorus to compete with our casual chatter as we talked into the
night. A few early mosquitoes finally drove us in. We said our
goodnights and went to our rooms.

“Okay, now comes the awkward moment,” Jim
said, running his fingers through his short gray hair. “Would you
prefer I sleep on the floor?”

“It’s a big bed, Jim, I think we can share
it like adults.”

“Like adults,” he repeated with a sigh.

JOURNAL ENTRY: May 4

The bright
morning sun coming through the lacey curtains woke me early. Jim
was still sleeping, breathing steady and deep, with his back to me.
At least he didn’t snore. I slipped quietly out of the big bed and
went into the attached bathroom. We would be doing a lot of
traveling today.

~~~

“Good morning,” he said when I came back
into the room, showered and fully dressed.

“Good morning. Sleep well?” I asked. When he
gave me a look that said I shouldn’t ask, I turned away.

“I slept, thinking about those points B and
C that we’ve missed,” he replied with a slow smile.

Yeah, me too,
I thought.

*

I helped Kora clear away and wash the
breakfast dishes. Lee and the children were playing catch out in
the dusty yard, and Jim was packing the Hummer.

“You know you’re always welcome to stay as
long as you want, Allex,” Kora said.

“I know, and I appreciate that. It’s been
four weeks we’ve been on the road, though, and I’m anxious to see
my family again.
And
we still have a stop to make at Sawyer.
Jim hasn’t said how long that will take us.” I put the last dish
away in the cupboard. “I’ve been meaning to thank you for those
steaks you put in our cooler. I fixed them with morels,” I said,
smiling to hide my discomfort at remembering what else happened at
that time.

She smiled back brightly at me. “Then you
won’t mind if I give you two more?”

“That’s very generous, Kora. Beef is a very
rare treat for us. Ever since that first quake eighteen months ago,
nothing has been the same. My family has had more fresh venison
than anything else. My boys don’t mind though, they enjoy the
hunt.”

Jim came in right then and said we were
ready to leave.

*

“I promise to bring Allex back another time
for a longer visit. For now, though, we really do have to go,” Jim
said. He turned to the children. “I know you two will be safe here.
We wouldn’t leave you if we had any doubts. And Jared, you take
care of your little sister, okay?”

“Yes, sir, I will,” the little redhead
stated. Hugs and handshakes went all around and we left them
behind, one more time.

*

As we once more approached the dirt road
that followed along the river, Jim said, “Which way, Allex?”

I looked at him in question.

“This may be our last time for adventure,”
he stated. “I vote for us going south and taking the lower bridge
across. It’s only a different route.”

“That’s a really good idea. It will give us
a new view,” I agreed. “And quite honestly, Jim, I’ve had enough
adventure these past three weeks to last me awhile.”

Jim scowled. “I had hoped this trip would
bring you happier, more pleasant experiences, Allex. I never should
have let my guard down before. I honestly thought we were beyond
the danger zone. It never occurred to me we would walk right into
it. I’m sorry, Allex, I really am.”